It’s time for the traditional December 25th Jersey/Texas Barbeque!

The barbequed whole chicken, racks of spare ribs, the coleslaw and cowboy beans, the cornbread, they’re all just about done !

Strange how traditions evolve. For years my family did the usual holiday thing; my mom would spend days baking and cooking leading up to the usual feast. Her mother did it before her, and her mother before her and so on leading all the way through generations. It was as it had always been and would always be… until one year. Neither mom or I were feeling good as that fateful day approached, and Christmas Eve arrived with no preparation whatsoever. And as the family gathered, someone suggested that maybe ‘Texas’ might be open. Texas was this wonderful little roadhouse/dive that served some of the most wonderful chicken and ribs, and you could order take-out. Needless to say as we ate chicken and ribs off paper plates, we all enjoyed that Christmas more than so many years before and from that point on a tradition was born. Sadly Texas Take-out has since closed, though the menu has lived on in our home as the annual feast.

“A mystery in the John D. MacDonald tradition – both in its largely watery setting and tone, the novel also brings to mind Dashiell Hammett in the complexity of its plot, and even Stieg Larsson in its use of a strong young woman with an attitude as a main character. Last Exit In New Jersey is well-paced, densely-plotted story that mystery-thriller fans will enjoy immensely.”
~ Alex Austin, author of The Red Album of Asbury Park Remixed

Hazel Moran, the tough truck-driving amateur sleuth introduced in Last Exit in New Jersey, returns in this dark and twisting sequel.